The present invention relates to the general technical field of electrical cooking appliances having a case, a bowl and a heating element associated with the bowl, and relates more particularly to a control device accessible from outside the appliance to allow the user to initiate various functions.
It is known to provide electric fryers having a case forming a housing that opens toward the top and receives a bowl, which may or may not be removable, as well as a lid connected by a hinge to the case in such a manner as to be able to close the bowl from the top, the lid being retained in its closed position by a bolt, or lock, usually located diametrically opposite to the hinge. A control button accessible from the exterior permits the bolt to be unlocked in order to open the lid when desired.
Such a fryer includes, in addition, heating means disposed at the bottom of the housing and an on-off control means for the electric current to the heating means. Such an on-off control means can be a conventional on-off switch which is accessible from the outside, and/or means for controlling the temperature in the bowl. The latter means generally include a thermostat having a part which comes into contact with the bowl and a control element, such as a dial, accessible from the outside to permit selection of the desired cooking temperature.
In known fryers, the control device generally protrudes from the external face of the case, in the form of a large rotatable dial whose initial operating positions permit the on-off switch to be turned on and whose subsequent angular positions permit selection of the desired temperature to which the thermostat is to respond. Alternatively, the control means can be constituted by a lever that is movable within a groove.
These control devices thus have elements that protrude in a significant way from the external face of the case, rendering the latter difficult to clean. This is all the more true when dirt can come to lodge at the bottom of slots, hollows and other cavities, as is particularly true in the case of levers. Moreover, such protruding control means are considered by users to be unsightly.